BSCI 124 Lecture Notes -- Pollination BSCI 124 Lecture Notes Undergraduate Program in Plant Biology, University of Maryland LECTURE 21 - POLLINATION I. Sexual reproduction and evolution A. Sexual reproduction aids in evolution because sexual reproduction produces variable offspring upon which natural selection works B. Sexual reproduction is advantageous only if an organism mates with someone other than itself (outcrossing or outbreeding) 1. Animals- most species have separate male and female individuals 2. Potential problem for plants- most flowers have both male and female parts in them (perfect flowers) 3. Many flowering plants have evolved special ways to assure outcrossing and prevent self-crossing 4. Pollination, the transfer of pollen from the male anther to the female stigma, must occur before seed plants can reproduce sexually. A primary function of flowers is to attract pollinators with colorful petals, scent, nectar, and pollen. II. Pollination & fertilization Excellent summary; strongly recommended for review A. Pollen contains a sperm nucleus and a tube nucleus. There is no antheridia. B. The s perm nucleus is enclosed and prote cted by the gametophyte tissue.

Since the sperm is protected, fertilization is no longer restricted to damp environments. The protected sperm can blow through the air. The male and female gametophytes can live anywhere as long as the sperm can reach the egg. As a result, the gametophyte generation of seed plants became drastically reduced in size and is attached and dependent on the sporophyte. C. For a protected pollen sperm (generative cell) to successfully fertilize a protected egg, there must be a method to get the pollen from the male to the female. This process is called pollination. D. The male gametophyte (pollen) travels from the microsporangium to the megasporangium containing the female gametophyte with the egg. The pollen grain sticks to the receptive (sticky) part of the megasporangium. E. The process of fertilization begins when a second cell within the pollen grain, a tube cell, creates a tube through the megasporangium to the egg. F. When the egg has matured, the pollin's generative cell travels down the tube where it divides to produce sperm to fertilize the egg. In most gymnosperms, this can be a two year process.

G. The gametes are never really exposed. The sperm develops within a pollen tube and is liberated at the archegonium. The egg is continuously surrounded by the gametophyte tissue. The covering around each megasporangium further s the protection, not only to the megagametophytes and eggs but also to the developing embryos. III. How do plants get pollen from one plant to another? (plants are rooted in the ground) A. Wind 1. Gymnosperms and some flowering plants (grasses & many trees) 2. Hit or miss affair (very chancy) B. Many flowering plants rely on animals for cross-pollination 1. 3 main animal pollinators- insects, birds, and mammals a. Insect pollinators- beetles, bees, wasps, flies, butterflies, and moths b. Bird pollinators- hummingbirds, honey creepers, and honeyeaters c. Mammals- bats 2. Many plants have evolved relationships with animals that are their pollinators IV. Coevolution - the interactions between two different species affect the development of each other's characteristics during the course of evolution A.

One of the best examples of coevolution is the relationship between flowering plants and their animal pollinators 1. Plants evolved elaborate methods to attract animal pollinators 2. Animals evolved specialized body parts and behaviors that aid plant pollination B. The evolution of these pollinating mechanisms have given flowering plants almost as much mobility in their mating as animals have C. Coevolution sometimes results in a plant and its pollinator being totally dependent on one another 1. Example- a species of yucca that is only pollinated by a small moth species 2. The yucca cannot reproduce successfully without the moth transferring pollen 3. The moth cannot reproduce successfully without the yucca because it only lays its eggs inside the ovary of the yucca flower; the young moth larvae that hatch feed on the yucca until they are mature V. Pollen The pollen structure is often related to its method of pollination. A. In insect-pollinated species, the pollen is frequently sticky or barbed. B. Wind-pollinated species usually produce lightweight, small, smooth pollen. C. Pollen grains have a limited life span.

Depending on the species, pollen may be viable for only a few hours up to several weeks after it is released from the anther. VI. Pollinators A. Bees - Bees are the most important group of flower pollinators 1. The bees live on the nectar and feed it to their larvae. With special mouth parts, hairs, and other body adaptations, they are especially suited to collect and carry these materials. 2. Bees are guided by sight and smell. a. Bees see yellow and blue colors. They also see ultraviolet light as a distinct color and many flowers have ultraviolet markings. Bees are not able to see the color red, so they rarely pollinate red flowers. b. Some flowers have "honey guides" that guide bees to the nectar. They often have a "landing platform". c. The nectary is usually situated at the base of the petals. The pollen is normally large and sticky. B. Butterflies - Like bees, butterflies are guided by sight and smell. 1. Some butterflies are able to see red as a distinct color, so some butterfly-pollinated flowers are red and orange. 2.

Butterfly or moth-pollinated flowers are often in the shape of a long tube because each insect has a long proboscis. 3. The pollen is normally large and sticky. C. Moths - Most moths come out only at night, so the typical moth-pollinated flower is white or pale with a strong sweet odor that often is only emitted after sunset. 1. The pollen is normally large and sticky. D. Flies - Some flowers look and smell like dung or rotten meat. Dung and carrion flies mistakenly lay their eggs on the flower and in the process collect and pass pollen. When the eggs hatch, the maggots starve for lack of food. E. Birds - Birds have a good sense of color and are attracted to colorful red or yellow flowers. They do not have a keen sense of smell, so bird-pollinated flowers usually have little odor. 1. Birds are attracted to red and yellow flowers. 2. Pollen does not readily stick to the bill, but does to the feathers. 3. Since birds lap up the nectar with their tongue, bird-pollinated flowers produce nectar that is more fluid and in greater quantity than insect-pollinated flowers. 4.

Hummingbird-pollinated flowers usually have a long, tubular corolla suited to their long beak. 5. The pollen is normally large and sticky. F. Beetles - Beetle-pollinated plants are often dull in color or white, but produce strong odors. G. Mammals 1. Bats are usually active at night, so flowers they pollinate are often white. 2. One mouse-pol linated flower has inconspicuous green blossoms that open at night, with a well-hidden source of copious, sucrose-rich nectar. When the rodent grasps the flower and inserts its tongue to probe for nectar, the pollen is released explosively from the anthers, dusting the rodent's face. H. Wind - The flowers are small in comparison to animal-pollinated flowers. 1. The pollen grains are light, small, and are not sticky. 2. The stamens are exposed to the wind so that the pollen can easily blow in the wind. 3. The stigmas are feathery and exposed to the wind so that they can catch the pollen. 4. The flowers are often grouped in inflorescences to facilitate pollen release and capture. VII.

Why animal pollinators "service" flowering plants A. Rewards for the pollinator- food 1. Nectar (a sugar solution) - In exchange for moving their pollen around, flowers have evolved many rewards to attract pollinators. The most common attraction is food, either nectar (a sugar solution) or pollen, which is high in protein. In many plants nectar is produced in special glands called nectaries. Nectaries are most commonly found in the flowers, but can be located on leaves or other parts of the plant (extra-floral nectaries). Regardless of where nectar is produced, it is usually protected from evaporation into the atmosphere and from dilution by rainwater. The nectar is also protected from "robbing" by other animals that do not aid in pollination. a. Concentration of sugar has evolved to match the energy requirements of the specific animal pollinator b. Example- bees need 30-35% sugar to make honey (keeps their larvae alive through the winter); bees will not visit flowers with low sugar concentrations in their nectar c. Example- birds need dilute nectar because their mouthparts cannot suck up a thick, syrupy nectar 2.

Pollen (high in protein) a. Beetles eat pollen directly b. Bees use pollen to make bee bread (mixture of pollen and nectar; used to feed larvae) c. Some plants (roses, peonies, and poppies) rely on pollen as a reward and don't produce any nectar d. Some flowers produce two kinds of pollen (normal pollen and sterile, tasty pollen for insects) B. Getting the pollinator's attention- advertising nectar and pollen rewards- colors and aromas 1. Colors- vary depending on the pollinator- different animals perceive light differently a. Recall visible spectrum 380 nm - 760 nm (violet - blue - green - yellow - orange - red) b. Bees see best at lower end of visible spectrum and into ultraviolet radiation; flowers pollinated by bees are most often violet, blue, or yellow and may have ultraviolet markings (invisible to human eye) c. Birds are particularly attracted to red flowers (poster in lab of hummingbirds and their flowers) d. Bats don't see well- flowers are a dusky white a.

Once the pollinator comes closer to the flower, it sees a visual guide that pinpoints the location of the reward b. Examples- dots (foxglove) or lines ( pansy ) or contrasting color pattern (yellow center, blue petals of forget-me-nots) 3. Aromas a. Nectar guides of daffodils have a fragrance that is stronger than rest of flower b. Aroma is more important in insect-pollinated flowers (birds don't have a strong sense of smell) c. Aroma doesn't have to be pleasant- carrion plant smells like rotting flesh 4. Examples: (Please note: The following pictures are on the IBC disk) c Some flowers produce nectar a sugary solution in special - BIOLOGY - 101 View Full Document (c) Some flowers produce nectar, a sugary solution, in special floral glands called nectaries . Pollinators use nectar, which is also rich in amino acids, alkaloids, and other floral chemicals, as an energy rich food. Some nectars contain alkaloids such as nicotine to prevent animals from drinking all the nectar in a single visit.

Thus, pollinators are encouraged to visit multiple flowers and each flower has multiple pollinator visitors. (d) Biologists estimate that insects pollinate about 70% of all flowering plant species. Bees are particularly important as pollinators of crop plants. Crops pollinated by bees provide about 30% This preview has intentionally blurred sections. Sign up to view the full version. View Full Document of human food. Plants pollinated by insects often have blue or yellow petals. The insect eye does not see color the same way as the human eye. Most insects see well in violet, blue, and yellow range of visible light but do not perceive red as a distinct color. So flowers pollinated by insects are usually not red. Insects also see in the UV range, wavelengths that are invisible to the human eye. Insects see UV radiation as a color called "bee's purple". Many flowers have dramatic UV markings that may or may not be visible to humans but direct insects to the center of the flower where the pollen grains and nectar are. (e) Insects have a well developed sense of smell, and many insect-pollinated flowers have a strong scent that may be pleasant or foul to humans.

The carrion plant, for example, is pollinated by flies and smells like rotting flesh in which flies lay their eggs. As flies move from one reeking flower to another looking for a place to lay their eggs, they transfer pollen grains. (f) Birds such as hummingbirds are important pollinators. Flowers pollinated by birds are usually red, orange, or yellow because birds see well in this range of visible light. Since most birds do not have a strong sense of smell, bird pollinated flowers usually lack scent. (g) Bats, which feed at night and don't see well, are important pollinators particularly in the tropics. Bat pollinated flowers bloom at night and have dull white petals and strong nighttime output of scent that usually smells like fermented fruit. Nectar-feeding bats are attracted to the flowers by the scent; they lap up the nectar with their long, extendible tongues. As they move from one flower to another, they transfer pollen grains. An unusual adaptation that encourages pollination by bats has evolved in the tropical vine Mucana holtonii . When the pollen in a given flower is mature, a concave petal lifts up.

The petal bounces the echo from the bat's echo- locating calls back to the bat, helping it find the flower. (h) Specialized features such as petals, scent, and nectar to attract pollinators have coevolved with adaptations of animal pollinators. Specialized body parts and behaviors adapted animals to aid pollination as they obtain nectar and pollen grains as a reward. For example, coevolution has selected bumblebee's hairy bodies, which catch and hold the sticky pollen grains for transport This is the end of the preview. Sign up to access the rest of the document. TERM Biology Chapter 35, Stem Structure and Transport Key concepts: 35.1 Primary tissues ( Biology Chapter 35 pollination | Britannica.com Pollination pollen Pollination, transfer of pollen grains from the stamens , the flower parts that produce them, to the ovule-bearing organs or to the ovules (seed precursors) themselves. In plants such as conifers and cycads, in which the ovules are exposed, the pollen is simply caught in a drop of fluid secreted by the ovule.

In flowering plants, however, the ovules are contained within a hollow organ called the pistil , and the pollen is deposited on the pistil’s receptive surface, the stigma . There the pollen germinates and gives rise to a pollen tube , which grows down through the pistil toward one of the ovules in its base. In an act of double fertilization , one of the two sperm cells within the pollen tube fuses with the egg cell of the ovule, making possible the development of an embryo , and the other cell combines with the two subsidiary sexual nuclei of the ovule, which initiates formation of a reserve food tissue , the endosperm . The growing ovule then transforms itself into a seed . Common carder bumblebee (Bombus pascuorum) pollinating a honeysuckle … © Welpetz/Fotolia Some of the different ways plants are pollinated. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. As a prerequisite for fertilization, pollination is essential to the production of fruit and seed crops and plays an important part in programs designed to improve plants by breeding. Furthermore, studies of pollination are invaluable for understanding the evolution of flowering plants and their distribution in the world today.

As sedentary organisms, plants usually must enlist the services of external agents for pollen transport. In flowering plants, these are (roughly in order of diminishing importance) insects, wind, birds, mammals, and water. Pollination by insects probably occurred in primitive seed plants, reliance on other means being a relatively recent evolutionary development. Reasonable evidence indicates that flowering plants first appeared in tropical rain forests during the Mesozoic Era (about 65 million to 225 million years ago). The most prevalent insect forms of the period were primitive beetles ; no bees and butterflies were present. Some Mesozoic beetles, already adapted to a diet of spores from primitive plants, apparently became pollen eaters, capable of effecting chance pollination with grains accidentally spared. The visits of such beetles to primitive flowering plants may have been encouraged by insect attractants, such as odours of carrion, dung, or fruit, or by sex attractants. In addition, visits of the insects to the plants could be made to last longer and thus potentially be more valuable to the plant as far as fertilization was concerned, if the flower had a functional, traplike structure.

Nowadays, such flowers are found predominantly, although not exclusively, in tropical families regarded as ancient—e.g., the water lily (Nymphaeaceae) and the arum lily (Araceae) families. At the same time, other plants apparently began to exploit the fact that primitive gall-forming insects visited the flowers to deposit eggs. In the ancient genus Ficus (figs and banyan trees), pollination still depends on gall wasps . In general, Mesozoic flowering plants could not fully rely on their pollinators, whose presence also depended on the existence of a complete, well-functioning ecological web with dung, cadavers, and food plants always available. More advanced flowers escaped from such dependence on chance by no longer relying on deceit, trapping, and tasty pollen alone; nectar became increasingly important as a reward for the pollinators. Essentially a concentrated, aqueous sugar solution, nectar existed in certain ancestors of the flowering plants. In bracken fern even nowadays, nectar glands (nectaries) are found at the base of young leaves.

In the course of evolutionary change, certain nectaries were incorporated into the modern flower (floral nectaries), although extrafloral nectaries also persist. Flower colours thus seem to have been introduced as “advertisements” of the presence of nectar, and more specific nectar guides (such as patterns of dots or lines, contrasting colour patches, or special odour patterns) were introduced near the entrance to the flower, pointing the way to the nectar hidden within. At the same time, in a complex pattern of parallel evolution, groups of insects appeared with sucking mouthparts capable of feeding on nectar. In extreme cases, there arose a complete mutual dependence. For example, a Madagascar orchid, Angraecum sesquipedale , with a nectar receptacle 20 to 35 cm (8 to 14 inches) long, depends for its pollination exclusively on the local race of a hawkmoth, Xanthopan morganii, which has a proboscis of 22.5 cm (9 inches).

Interestingly enough, the existence of the hawkmoth was predicted by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace , codiscoverers of evolution, about 40 years before its actual discovery. Types: self-pollination and cross-pollination Ringling Bros. Folds Its Tent An egg cell in an ovule of a flower may be fertilized by a sperm cell derived from a pollen grain produced by that same flower or by another flower on the same plant, in either of which two cases fertilization is said to be due to self-pollination (autogamy); or, the sperm may be derived from pollen originating on a different plant individual, in which case the process is called cross-pollination (heterogamy). Both processes are common, but cross-pollination clearly has certain evolutionary advantages for the species: the seeds formed may combine the hereditary traits of both parents, and the resulting offspring generally are more varied than would be the case after self-pollination. In a changing environment , some of the individuals resulting from cross-pollination still may be found capable of coping with their new situation, ensuring survival of the species , whereas the individuals resulting from self-pollination might all be unable to adjust.

Self-pollination, or selfing , although foolproof in a stable environment, thus is an evolutionary cul-de-sac. There also is a more direct, visible difference between selfing and outbreeding (cross-pollination): in those species where both methods work, cross-pollination usually produces more, and better quality, seeds. A dramatic demonstration of this effect is found with hybrid corn (maize), a superior product that results from cross-breeding of several especially bred lines. The process of self-pollination in an angiosperm. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. The process of cross-pollination using an animal pollinator. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest Structural Not surprisingly, many species of plants have developed mechanisms that prevent self-pollination. Some—e.g., date palms (Phoenix dactylifera) and willows (Salix species)—have become dioecious ; that is, some plants produce only “male” (staminate) flowers, with the rest producing only “female” (pistillate or ovule-producing) ones.

In species in which staminate and pistillate flowers are found on the same individual ( monoecious plants) and in those with hermaphroditic flowers (flowers possessing both stamens and pistils), a common way of preventing self-fertilization is to have the pollen shed either before or after the period during which the stigmas on the same plant are receptive, a situation known as dichogamy. The more usual form of dichogamy, which is found especially in such insect-pollinated flowers as fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium) and salvias (Salvia species), is protandry , in which the stamens ripen before the pistils. Protogyny, the situation in which the pistils mature first, occurs in arum lilies and many wind-pollinated plants, such as grasses—although several grasses are self-pollinated, including common varieties of wheat , barley, and oats. Avocado has both protogynous and protandrous varieties, and these often are grown together to encourage cross-fertilization .

A structural feature of flowers that discourages selfing is heterostyly , or variation in the length of the style (neck of the pistil). This occurs in the common primrose (Primula vulgaris) and species of wood sorrel (Oxalis) and flax. In most British primrose populations, for example, approximately half the individuals have so-called “ pin” flowers, which possess short stamens and a long style, giving the stigma a position at the flower’s mouth, whereas the other half have “ thrum” flowers, in which the style is short and the stamens are long, forming a “ thrumhead” at the opening of the flower. Bees can hardly fail to deposit the pollen they receive from one type of flower onto the stigmas of the other type. The genetic system that regulates flower structure in these primroses is so constituted that cross-pollination automatically maintains a 50:50 ratio between pins and thrums. In the flowers of purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), the stamens and styles are of three different lengths to limit self-fertilization.

Chemical Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies Chemical self-incompatibility is another device for preventing self-fertilization. In this phenomenon, which depends on chemical substances within the plant, the pollen may fail to grow on a stigma of the same flower that produced it or, after germination , the pollen tube may not grow normally down the style to effect fertilization. The process is controlled genetically; it need not be absolute and can change in degree during the flowering season. Not surprisingly, chemical incompatibility usually is not found in those plants that have strong structural or temporal barriers against self-pollination. Formation of one such mechanism during evolution apparently was enough for most plant species. Mechanisms that permit self-pollination Eyjafjallajökull volcano In many instances, successful self-pollination takes place at the end of a flower’s life-span if cross-pollination has not occurred. Such self-pollination may be achieved by curving of stamens or style as occurs, for example, in fireweed. It can be an evolutionary advantage when animal pollinators are temporarily scarce or when the plants in a population are widely scattered.

Under such circumstances, selfing may tide the species over until better circumstances for outbreeding arrive. For this reason, selfing is common among annual plants; these often must produce an abundance of seed for the rapid and massive colonization of any bare ground that becomes available. If, in a given year, an annual plant were to produce no seed at all, survival of the species might be endangered. A persistent habit of self-pollination apparently has been adopted successfully by some plant species whose natural pollinators have died out. Continued selfing also is practiced by many food-crop plants. Some of these plants are cleistogamous , meaning that the flowers fail to open, an extreme way of ensuring self-pollination. A similar process is apomixis , the development of an ovule into a seed without fertilization. Apomixis is easily demonstrated in lawn dandelions, which produce seeds even when stamens and styles are cut off just before the flowers open. Consistent apomixis has the same pros and cons as continued selfing. The offspring show very little genetic variability, but there is good survival if the species is well adapted to its habitat and if the environment does not change.

Agents of pollen dispersal Insects Beetles and flies The ancient principle of trapping insects as a means of ensuring pollination was readopted by some advanced families (e.g., orchids and milkweeds), and further elaboration perfected the flower traps of primitive families. The cuckoopint (Arum maculatum), for example, attracts minute flies, which normally breed in cow dung, by means of a fetid smell. This smell is generated in early evening, along with considerable heat, which helps to volatilize the odour ingredients. The flies visiting the plant, many of which carry Arum pollen, enter the floral trap through a zone of bristles and then fall into a smooth-walled floral chamber from which escape is impossible. Gorging themselves on a nutritious stigmatic secretion produced by the female flowers at the base of the chamber, the flies effect cross-pollination. Late at night, when the stigmas no longer function, the male flowers, situated much higher on the floral column, proceed to bombard the flies with a rain of pollen.

The next day, when smell, heat, and food are gone, the prisoners, “tarred” with stigmatic secretion and “feathered” with pollen, are allowed to escape by a wilting of the inflorescence (flower cluster). Usually the escaped flies are soon recaught by another inflorescence, which is still in the smelly, receptive stage, and cross-pollination again ensues. Superb timing mechanisms underlie these events. The heat-generating metabolic process in the inflorescence is triggered by a hormone, calorigen, originating in the male flower buds only under the right conditions. The giant inflorescences of the tropical plant Amorphophallus titanum similarly trap large carrion beetles. Learn about the titan arum (Amorphophallus titanium, or corpse flower): how it … © American Chemical Society (A Britannica Publishing Partner) In general, trap flowers victimize beetles or flies of a primitive type. Although beetles most likely were involved as pollinators when flowering plants as a group were born, their later performance in pollination has been disappointing.

Some modern beetles do visit smelly flowers of an open type, such as elderberry and hawthorn, but with few exceptions they are still mainly pollen eaters. Flies as a group have become much more diversified in their habits than beetles have. Female short-tongued flies may be deceived by open-type flowers with carrion smells—e.g., the flowers of Stapelia and Rafflesia. Mosquitoes with their long tongues are effective pollinators of certain orchids (Habenaria species) in North American swamps. In Europe, the bee fly (Bombylius) is an important long-tongued pollinator. Extremely specialized as nectar drinkers are certain South African flies; for example, Megistorhynchus longirostris, which has a tongue that is 60 to 70 mm (2.3 to 2.7 inches) long. The voraciousness of flower beetles demonstrates the futility of enticing insect pollinators solely with such an indispensable material as pollen. As a defensive strategy, certain nectar-free flowers that cater to beetles and bees—such as wild roses, peonies, and poppies—produce a superabundance of pollen.

Other plants—e.g., Cassia—have two types of stamens, one producing a special sterile pollen used by insects as food, the other yielding normal pollen for fertilizing the ovules. Other flowers contain hairs or food bodies that are attractive to insects. Soldier beetle (Chauliognathus lugubris). A monarch butterfly visiting the flowers of a butterfly bush (Buddleja davidii). © Gino Santa Maria/Fotolia Typical moth flowers—e.g., jimsonweed, stephanotis, and honeysuckle—are light-coloured, often long and narrow, without landing platforms. The petals are sometimes fringed; the copious nectar is often in a spur. They are open and overwhelmingly fragrant at night. Butterfly flowers —e.g., those of butterfly bush, milkweed, and verbena—are conspicuously coloured, often red, generally smaller than moth flowers, but grouped together in erect, flat-topped inflorescences that provide landing space for the butterflies.

Hummingbird hawkmoth (Macroglossum stellatarum) drinking from a pink (Dianthus), an … Yummifruitbat Important pollinating moths are the various species of the genus Plusia, sometimes occurring in enormous numbers, and the hummingbird hawkmoth (Macroglossa), which is active in daylight. A small moth, Tegeticula maculata, presents an interesting case. It is totally dependent on yucca flowers, in whose ovules its larvae develop. Before depositing their eggs, the females pollinate the flowers, following an almost unbelievable pattern of specialized behaviour, which includes preparing a ball of pollen grains and carrying it to the stigma of the plant they are about to use for egg laying. Wind Although prevalent in the primitive cycads and in conifers, such as pine and fir, wind pollination (anemophily) in the flowering plants must be considered as a secondary development. It most likely arose when such plants left the tropical rain forest where they originated and faced a more hostile environment, in which the wind weakened the effectiveness of smell as an insect attractant and the lack of pollinating flies and beetles also made itself felt.

Lacking in precision, wind pollination is a wasteful process. For example, one male plant of Mercurialis annua, a common weed, produces 1.25 billion grains of pollen to be dispersed by the wind; a male sorrel plant produces 400 million. Although, in general, the concentration of such pollen becomes very low about one-fourth mile (0.4 km) from its source, nonetheless in windy areas it can cover considerable distances. Pine pollen, for example, which is naturally equipped with air sacs, can travel up to 500 miles (800 km) although the grains may lose their viability in the process. Statistically, this still gives only a slim chance that an individual stigma will be hit by more than one or two pollen grains. Also relevant to the number of pollen grains per stigma is the fact that the dry, glueless, and smooth-surfaced grains are shed singly. Since the number of fertilizing pollen grains is low, the number of ovules in a single flower is low and, as a consequence, so is the number of seeds in each fruit.

In hazel, walnut, beech, and oak, for example, there are only two ovules per flower, and, in stinging nettle, elm, birch, sweet gale, and grasses, there is only one. Wind-pollinated flowers are inconspicuous, being devoid of insect attractants and rewards, such as fragrance, showy petals, and nectar. To facilitate exposure of the flowers to the wind, blooming often takes place before the leaves are out in spring, or the flowers may be placed very high on the plant. Inflorescences, flowers, or the stamens themselves move easily in the breeze, shaking out the pollen, or the pollen containers ( anthers ) burst open in an explosive fashion when the sun hits them, scattering the pollen widely into the air. The stigmas often are long and divided into arms or lobes, so that a large area is available for catching pollen grains. Moreover, in open areas wind-pollinated plants of one species often grow together in dense populations.

The chance of self-pollination, high by the very nature of wind pollination, is minimized by the fact that many species are dioecious or (like hazel) have separate male and female flowers on each plant. Familiar flowering plants relying on wind pollination are grasses, rushes, sedges, cattail, sorrel, lamb’s-quarters, hemp, nettle, plantain, alder, hazel, birch, poplar, and oak. (Tropical oaks, however, may be insect-pollinated.) Spikes of sedge (Carex pendula) showing reduced floral parts adapted to wind pollination. … © Stephen Dalton/Natural History Photographic Agency Windblown pollen from the male cone of a lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta). Robert J. Erwin/Science Source Birds Because the study of mechanisms of pollination began in Europe, where pollinating birds are rare, their importance is often underestimated. In fact, in the tropics and the southern temperate zones, birds are at least as important as pollinators as insects are, perhaps more so.

About a third of the 300 families of flowering plants have at least some members with ornithophilous (“bird-loving”) flowers—i.e., flowers attractive to birds. Conversely, about 2,000 species of birds, belonging to 50 or more families, visit flowers more or less regularly to feed on nectar, pollen, and flower-inhabiting insects or spiders. Special adaptations to this way of life, in the form of slender, sometimes curved, beaks and tongues provided with brushes or shaped into tubes, are found in over 1,600 species of eight families: hummingbirds , sunbirds (see The Rodent That Acts Like a Hippo and Other Examples of Convergent Evolution ), honeyeaters , brush-tongued parrots, white-eyes , flower-peckers , honeycreepers (or sugarbirds), and Hawaiian honeycreepers such as the iiwi . Generally, the sense of smell in birds is poorly developed and not used in their quest for food; instead, they rely on their powerful vision and their colour sense, which resembles that of human (ultraviolet not being seen as a colour, whereas red is).

Furthermore, the sensitivity of the bird’s eye is greatest in the middle and red part of the spectrum. This is sometimes ascribed to the presence in the retina of orange-red drops of oil, which together may act as a light filter. Fork-tailed sunbird (Aethopyga christinae). Charles Lam Although other explanations have been forwarded, the special red sensitivity of the bird eye is usually thought to be the reason why so many bird-pollinated flowers are of a uniform, pure red colour. Combinations of complementary colors, such as orange and blue, or green and red, also are found, as are white flowers. As might be expected, bird flowers generally lack smell and are open in the daytime; they are bigger than most insect flowers and have a wider floral tube. Bird flowers also are sturdily constructed as a protection against the probing bill of the visitors, with the ovules kept out of harm’s way in an inferior ovary beneath the floral chamber or placed at the end of a special stalk or behind a screen formed by the fused bases of the stamens.

The latter, often so strong as to resemble metal wire, are usually numerous, brightly coloured, and protruding, so that they touch a visiting bird on the breast or head as it feeds. The pollen grains often stick together in clumps or chains, with the result that a single visit may result in the fertilization of hundreds of ovules. In the Americas, where hummingbirds usually suck the nectar of flowers on the wing, ornithophilous flowers (e.g., fuchsias) are often pendant and radially symmetrical, lacking the landing platform of the typical bee flower. In Africa and Asia, bird flowers often are erect and do offer their visitors, which do not hover, either a landing platform or special perches in the form of small twigs near the flower . Pollinating birds are bigger than insects and have a very high rate of metabolism. Although some hummingbirds go into a state resembling hibernation every night, curtailing their metabolism drastically, others keep late hours. Thus, in general, birds need much more nectar per individual than insects do.

Accordingly, bird flowers produce nectar copiously—a thimbleful in each flower of the coral tree , for example, and as much as a liqueur glassful in flowers of the spear lily (Doryanthus). Plants bearing typical bird flowers are cardinal flower, fuchsia, red columbine, trumpet vine , hibiscus, strelitzia, and eucalyptus, and many members of the pea, orchid, cactus , and pineapple families. Calliope hummingbird (Selasphorus calliope) at a cigar flower (… AdstockRF Mammals In Madagascar, the mouse lemurs (Microcebus), which are only ten centimetres (four inches) long, obtain food from flowers, and in Australia the diminutive marsupial honey possums and pygmy possums also are flower specialists. Certain highly specialized tropical bats , particularly Macroglossus and Glossophaga, also obtain most or all of their food from flowers.

The Macroglossus (big-tongued) species of southern Asia and the Pacific are small bats with sharp snouts and long, extensible tongues, which carry special projections (papillae) and sometimes a brushlike tip for picking up a sticky mixture of nectar and pollen. Significantly, they are almost toothless. Colour sense and that sonar sense so prominent in other bats, seem to be lacking. Their eyesight is keen but, since they feed at night, they are probably guided to the flowers principally by their highly developed sense of smell. The bats hook themselves into the petals with their thumb claws and stick their slender heads into the flowers, extracting viscid nectar and protein-rich pollen with their tongues. The plants involved have, in the process of evolution , responded to the bats by producing large (sometimes huge) amounts of these foods. One balsa-tree flower, for example, may contain a full 10 grams (0.3 ounce) of nectar, and one flower from a baobab tree has about 2,000 pollen-producing stamens. Some bat flowers also provide succulent petals or special food bodies to their visitors.

Another striking adaptation is that the flowers are often placed on the main trunk or the big limbs of a tree ( cauliflory ); or, borne on thin, ropelike branches, they dangle beneath the crown ( flagelliflory). The pagoda shape of the kapok tree serves the same purpose: facilitation of the bat’s approach. Characteristics of the flowers themselves include drab colour, large size, sturdiness, bell-shape with wide mouth and, frequently, a powerful rancid or urinelike smell . The giant saguaro cactus and the century plant (Agave) are pollinated by bats, although not exclusively, and cup-and-saucer vine (Cobaea scandens) is the direct descendant of a bat-pollinated American plant. Calabash, candle tree, and areca palm also have bat-pollinated flowers. Mexican long-tongued bat (Choeronycteris mexicana) pollinating Agave flowers. Rolf Nussbaumer—imageBROKER/age fotostock Water Although pollen grains can be made to germinate in aqueous sugar solutions, water alone in most cases has a disastrous effect on them.

Accordingly, only a very few terrestrial plants, such as the bog asphodel of the Faroes, use rainwater as a means of pollen transport. Even in aquatic plants, water is seldom the true medium of pollen dispersal. Thus, the famous Podostemonaceae , plants that grow only on rocks in rushing water, flower in the dry season when the plants are exposed; pollination occurs with the aid of wind or insects or by selfing. Another aquatic plant, ribbon weed, sends its male and female flowers to the surface separately. There, the former transform themselves into minute sailboats, which are driven by the wind until they collide with the female flowers. In the Canadian waterweed, and also in pondweed (Potamogeton) and ditch grass (Ruppia), the pollen itself is dispersed on the water’s surface; it is, however, still water-repellent. True water dispersal (hydrophily), in which the pollen grains are wet by water, is found only in the hornworts and eelgrasses.

Question: Which sugary solution produced by flowers attracts insects, birds or bats and encourages pollination?
Answer: NECTAR